


In Plain Sight

by tarabensonboyd



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-01
Updated: 2014-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-07 00:58:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1113598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tarabensonboyd/pseuds/tarabensonboyd





	In Plain Sight

Victoria balked at the edge of the beach. 

Two weeks ago she had found this stretch of beach, seemingly deserted possibly because it was shielded from the road by fragrant native shrubbery. The only other signs of human activity she had been able to find was a small building far enough away that she couldn’t even tell if it was inhabited. She had felt comfortable here, just like she had from the minute she had stepped off the plane. This island made her feel safe in a way she hadn’t in a long, long time. 

On this beach she could just exist, alone, and in her solitude she was content to sit in the sand with her sketch book and draw to her hearts content. However, this afternoon had felt different. From the moment she had climbed out of her car something had felt, not wrong, but different. She had allowed herself a moment of justified paranoia. Casually turning she had leaned against the vehicle, her wary green eyes carefully scanned her surroundings. Convinced her paranoia was getting the better of her, she had lifted her satchel from the car and set forth toward the beach. She had been gently twisting a branch of coral creeper around the trunk of a coconut palm when she had seen him. 

For the first time since she had been coming here there was another living being on the beach. That wasn’t technically true, she castigated herself mentally, there had been all manner of birds, a humpback whale slapping the ocean with its huge fluted tail as she played with her baby, a Hawaiian Monk Seal had come right up to her and watched her inquisitively until it closed its eyes and slept, even a turtle had dragged itself up the beach, but so far there had never been another human. To make matters even worse, the man that sat in the sand in front of her was huge.

“I can hear you there you know.” His voice startled her from her nervous introspections.

“I’m sorry I don’t want to intrude, I’ll leave you alone.” Victoria responded, already taking a step backwards along the roughhewn path unwilling to take her eyes off him.

She had taken no more than three steps when he spoke again.

“Actually, I’m glad you’re here. I’ve got myself in a bit of a jam.”

The hairs on the back of Victoria’s neck stood up as she watched him suspiciously through narrowed eyes. 

“You look big enough to take care of yourself.” She responded, the calm tone of her voice belying the terror that was building within her.

“A month ago I would have agreed with you whole heartedly.” The stranger spoke, “I’m afraid I’ve gotten myself lost, and I can either wait here until someone works out that I’ve wandered off and comes to find me, which with my luck could be tomorrow because no one is at home, or I could impose upon you to point me in the right direction or maybe even lend me a hand in getting home.”

Victoria’s brow furrowed as she stepped forward, intrigued by the man’s deep, gravelly voice and deprecating tone. “You’re lost?” she murmured as she took the last few steps towards him. She stood, her art satchel clutched under her arm, her knuckles white on the straps watching him closely. “You look a lot like a local to me.” 

“Not lost so much as not able to find home.” He turned his face up to look at her.

She put a hand to her mouth to hold in the gasp that the sight of the stranger’s face had wrought. She had no doubt that at one time, and in the not too distant past at that, this man had been stunningly attractive. Not in a pretty Hollywood way, but with good bone structure and golden Polynesian skin tones making the perfect canvas for ruggedly handsome features. However, a large pink scar traversed the right side of his face, from his chin to his hair line, a secondary scar branching off and disappearing under the mirrored aviator lenses that shaded his eyes.

Victoria took her first real look at him, all she had noticed at first had been his sheer size, but now she forced herself to look more closely. He was a big man, to be sure, maybe 6’3 or even more but she suspected his current musculature was far from what he normally wore. His thick black hair hung in lank locks around his shoulders, brushing against the neckline of the black wife beater he wore. The parts of his body she could see bore an odd assembly of scars, some old, but troubling to her, many of them pink and obviously newly healed.

“Are you okay, Mr…?” she started to speak, moving a step closer to him despite her earlier fears.

“I’m fine.” He murmured, his voice more scratchy than it was before.

“Pardon me for saying so, but your idea of fine and mine don’t exactly mesh.”

He sighed and opened his mouth to speak, before he snapped it closed and swallowed thickly. “I had an accident, but truly I’m fine. Just a little vision impaired.”

“Let’s start again shall we?” Victoria couldn’t believe what she was doing but she stepped forward and extended a hand to him. “I’m Victoria. How can I help you?”

“I’m Chris.” He spoke, pushing himself to his feet. “I can’t see very well and I got turned around, I’m not sure what way to go home.”

Victoria frowned at the way he had ignored her extended hand, and took a step back as he towered over her in the golden sand.

“Where is home and I’ll see if I can help you?” 

“I’m not sure.” He murmured distractedly, he turned his face towards the sun’s rays trying to gauge the direction he needed to take but turned back to her in frustration.

“It’s okay, we’ll take it one step at a time.” She smiled and reached out to touch his forearm gently.

“I live in a cabin on the beach, I didn’t think I had walked far, but I tripped over a damned stray dog and when I picked myself up I walked a bit further but it didn’t feel right so I stopped here.”

“When you say a cabin, is it on the beachfront?”

“Yes.” He murmured, turning towards her. “Do you know it?”

“Not personally but I can see one from here. You’ve walked a long way.” Victoria answered, “Would you like me to walk you home?”

“No, I’ll be fine if you just point me in the direction of the cabin, I’ve taken up far too much of your time as it is.”

“Nonsense, the walk will do me good.” Victoria responded calmly. She placed her hand gently on his wrist and waited for him to turn his body in the right direction.

They walked in silence, the only sand the soft susurrations of the sand tumbling over their bare feet.


End file.
